In the German state of Hesse, officials of the ruling Schwarz- Grün coalition of the Christian Democratic Unionists and Green Party said if Germany’s 16 states can’t reach an agreement on a framework to overhaul the current and much-criticized State Treaty on Gambling by the end of the year, Hesse will withdraw from the treaty and develop its own regulations.
Hesse officials said they would work toward a system that would protect players, comply with European law and award licenses based on applicants’ quality, not on the number of licenses allowed.
The current State Treaty on Gambling has been strongly criticized and has faced numerous legal challenges since it was implemented in 2012, leaving operators in a legal grey area. In 2017, a compromise proposal that would have lifted the 20-license limit for sports betting failed when the governments of the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Nordrhein-Westphalen did not approve it.
The end of 2019 coincides with a clause in the treaty that would let Hesse withdraw from it and create its own regulatory model for gambling. The coalition wants to increase funding for the Landessportbund Hessen, the association representing the state’s sporting clubs and associations. It aims to make sure sports funding generated through gambling promotes specific objectives like supporting competitive sports and encouraging people to participate in sports for health reasons. Hesse also has plans for online gaming and seeks to transfer regulatory oversight of slot machines to the states.
Schleswig-Holstein officials said they would work with Hesse, as well as Nordrhein-Westphalen and Rheinland-Pfalz, to develop a new model.
